The terms Salish and Salishan are used
interchangeably by Salishan linguists and anthropologists. The name
Salish is actually the endonym of the
Flathead Nation. The name was later extended by linguists to
refer to other related languages. Many languages do not have
self-designations and instead have specific names for local
dialects as the local group was more important culturally than
larger tribal relations.

All Salishan languages which are not extinct are endangered—some extremely so with
only three or four speakers left. Practically all languages only
have speakers who are over sixty years of age, and many languages
only have speakers over eighty. Salish is most commonly written
using the Americanist phonetic
notation to account for the various vowels and consonants that
do not exist in most modern alphabets.

Contents

Family
division

The Salishan language family consists of twenty-three languages.
Below is a list of Salishan languages, dialects, and sub-dialects.
This list is a linguistic classification that may not correspond to
political divisions. Many Salishan groups consider their variety of
speech to be a separate language rather than a dialect.

Genetic
relations

No relationship to any other language is well established. The
most plausible connection is with the language isolateKutenai (Kootenai), which is generally
considered not unlikely but not solidly established.

Edward Sapir
suggested that the Salishan languages may be related to the Wakashan
and Chimakuan languages in a
hypothetical Mosan family. This proposal persists
primarily due to Sapir's stature. There is little evidence for it
and no progress has been made in reconstructing such a family.

The Salishan languages, principally Chehalis, contributed
greatly to the vocabulary of the Chinook Jargon.

Family
features

In popular
culture

Stanley Evans has written a
series of crime fiction novels that use Salish lore and
language.

An episode of Stargate SG-1 ("Spirits", 2x13) features
a culture of extraterrestrial humans loosely inspired by Pacific
coastal First Nations culture, and who speak a language referred to
as "ancient Salish".

Flathead Culture Committee. (1981). Common Names of the
Flathead Language. St. Ignatius, Mont: The Committee.

Kroeber, Paul D. (1999). The Salish language family:
Reconstructing syntax. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press
in cooperation with the American Indian Studies Research Institute,
Indiana University, Bloomington.